Coming to a Head
by Felix Sterreira
Summary: Companion to He Who Calls Everyone is an adult and things are looking down. Jeremy's latest girlfriend is already married to the most dangerous mobster in the country. She's pregnant and it isn't her husband's. Also, the threat of Hector of Carthage looms
1. Chapter 1

Coming to a Head

Chapter 1

Jeremy was feeling pretty good. This was unusual for him, considering the love of his life, Aelita Hopper, had married one of his best friends, he had two prosthetics, he hadn't married anyone at all even though he was twenty-five, and he had to spend his life with computers even though a malevolent supercomputer had nearly wrecked his childhood. But today he felt all right. His latest girlfriend, Maya, was coming over to his small apartment in the middle of France. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Milly hadn't really settled down. They had each had an apartment in the next town over, and one in Portugal near Milo, because of the drastic political changes that had happened recently.

Ever since Milo and Aelita had politically revolutionized Portugal, they had focused on world unity. They had achieved a special union between France and Portugal, with the two functioning as the same country. People mostly called it France-Portugal, though a few witty clans called it Pants, derived from Pance, derived from Portugal France. Most people now had homes in France and Portugal, though the two were only separated by geography. Jeremy was diehard about not getting a Portuguese apartment. Part of it was that it was painful to see Milo and Aelita. The rest was just patriotism. Maya walked in the door. Jeremy wasn't aware that his life was about to collapse.

"Jeremy," she said, leaning against the door. "I'm pregnant." Jeremy gaped, not even realizing the full implications of what that meant for him.

Milo had just finished a meeting and was exhausted. He had a serious problem. Spain was considering attacking France-Portugal. Aelita was just as exhausted, he knew, and was waiting in the house for him. He had wanted a house, not a mansion, and it was a small house, two bedroom, but with three floors and a decent amount of space. He walked up the stairs and into their bedroom. Aelita was crying.

"What happened?" Milo was always alert to bad news, because he was still worried about the message Xana and Frazier Pohonp had passed on years ago. 'Hector of Carthage.'

"It's wonderful," she said. "It's the best news I've ever heard."

"What?" asked Milo, curious now.

"I just got back from the doctor," she said. Milo was starting to catch on now.

"You don't mean… Do you?"

"I do. We're going to have children," she sobbed. "Twins. A boy and a girl." Milo held her, and he cried with joy as well, unaware that Jeremy was weeping with misery at the same message from someone else.

"Twins," he said to himself as much as anyone else. "We're going to have twins!"

Yumi was busy in the kitchen. Ulrich, Odd, King, and William had raked in money at the show that night and they had all come back hungry. She whistled as she worked. She was happy enough to cook, because the time Ulrich had thought she was overworked and tried to cook something for her, she had literally lost her lunch. After that they had an unspoken agreement that everyone was happier if Yumi cooked. Milly was helping her, of course. After the incident with Ulrich, she had never even let Odd try to cook. Ulrich was scanning their mail, and the others were discussing song lyrics. Suddenly Ulrich jumped up and stood in the middle of the eat-in kitchen.

"Milo and Aelita are going to have kids!" he exclaimed, and everyone was stunned for a second. Then they started cheering. "They say they've had the tests, and it's a boy and a girl! Twins!"

"That calls for Champaign," said Odd. "Do you have any?"

"It's in your cup, in case you hadn't noticed," said Yumi with a smile. "So Milo and Aelita are having kids? That's great!"

"We need to get down there and congratulate them in person," said Ulrich, quickly looking to Yumi for agreement. They never did anything without agreeing.

"Yes, we do," said Yumi, wholeheartedly giving her consent. They were already in the Portugal apartment, so it wouldn't be too hard. "Tell them if they want we can come by tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm so happy for them," said Milly with a sigh. "It's great."

"Yeah," said Ulrich with a strange look at Yumi. "Hey, can we talk for am minute?"

"Sure," she replied, and they went into the bedroom, much to the amusement of Odd.

"Yumi?" he asked, looking right into her eyes. "Do we want a kid yet?" She wasn't kidding herself. It was a question they really did have to address.

"I don't know," she said after a minute. "Let's see how Aelita and Milo feel about it before we decide anything. I do know that I would like to. But I don't know if it's the right time, with us being on the move so often."

"We'll wait until we can decide," he said. "Until then, we have to celebrate! Aelita and Milo have earned it."

Xanite 

**Data Entry**

**Hector of Carthage will be active soon. I have to warn them. The software is almost ready to let me get free of Xana, and I have to tell them that too. Things are getting bad virtual-side. They've had freedom for eleven years. I hope the Lyoko Warriors are ready to save the world again.**


	2. Chapter 2

Coming to a Head

Chapter 2

Before Jeremy knew it, Maya had left. He had to do a scan on her. A background check, to see if there was any way he could help. The obvious one was just to propose, but Jeremy wasn't sure. He punched in her name and the government background search turned up her profile. Jeremy read it in growing terror.

Name: Maya Hald

Age: 24

Spouse: James Hald

Occupation: N/A

Divorces: N/A

Offspring: N/A

Convictions: N/A

Other: See James Hald.

------------------------

Name: James Hald

Age: 25

Spouse: Maya Hald

Occupation: Construction

Divorces: N/A

Offspring: N/A

Convictions: 1 Tax Evasion, Two Attempted Murders

Other: A dangerous mob boss. Known to have an organization that stretches across all of France-Portugal. Released from prison for tax evasion in seven days.

The blood drained from Jeremy's face. He had been dating a criminal's wife. Without saying a word he slowly crashed his hard drive, deleting all the files, took out the emergency survival bag he was required to carry for his occupation, and left the building. He got in his car and hit the road. He was off to Portugal, or, more accurately, the airport then Portugal.

At the Salian household, things were going a little better. Everyone except Jeremy was there, talking and reacquainting themselves. Within a minute Yumi asked Milo about the rumor about Spain.

"Unfortunately, they are going to attack unless we can prevent them," said Milo, looking down. "But we can stop them. I really don't think they're going to make a bid for world domination like some people say they are."

"Even with Bonito de Barcelona in charge?" she asked tentatively. Bonito de Barcelona was one of the three war-crazed maniacs in charge of a major country. The others were in America and China, so not likely to become a threat yet. France and Portugal functioned as one country now, and New Zealand was filling out forms to join. It was one of the only countries outside France-Portugal that wanted unity. The other notable ones were Scotland and Australia, which were also filling out the forms. Russia had said they were considering it, which surprised everyone, but Russia had been in full repair mode in the last eleven years.

"Bonito de Barcelona has to be realistic or no one will follow him," said Milo, shaking her from her reverie. "I think if Russia joins us, we really will be taken seriously. New Zealand, Australia, and Scotland will help too." Odd's cell rang.

"It's Jeremy," he said. "He says he's coming! And now he's hung up on me."

"I wonder what made him decide to come all of a sudden," said Milo. "He's had the message for at least six hours. You'd think he would have announced it by now."

The truth was that Jeremy didn't even know they had sent a message.

Xanite 

**Data Entry**

**How do I warn them? It's been eleven years since I tried to make contact with the real world! Oh, this is bad. I need to get them to the old Factory, or at least the Mini-Scan Mainframe. I can't contact them from any old computer. Jeremy's laptop from eleven years ago was wired so Aelita could contact him, but even if I fooled the sensors into thinking I was Aelita, he discarded that laptop ages ago.**

**I need to think on the positive side. It might help me have a breakthrough.**

**I'm going to have a nephew. That's a good thing, right? There was another thing. A thing that looked sort of like the Carthage Transfer Orb was floating in the sea today. It had a Spanish flag where the Eye of Xana would normally be. That's probably bad.**

**That's it! I know how I can contact them!**


End file.
